Hamptons Art: Superman’s Hometown, Catwoman, Warhol Grave

Michelle and Asher Edelman of New York-based Edelman Arts at Art Southampton fair. The gallery was one of 48 participants of the fair's debut in the Hamptons. Billionaire Wilbur Ross and art patron Beth Rudin Dewoody were among those who attended. Photographer: Katya Kazakina/Bloomberg

The works are part of Mike Kelley’s “Kandors” series
(2000-2011), named after Superman’s birthplace and the capital
of the fictional planet of Krypton.

They are now on view in “Mike Kelley: 1954-2012” at the
Watermill Center in Water Mill, New York, along with colorful
Kandor posters, a white cardboard model of the futuristic
metropolis and videos of Kelley’s performance pieces.

Dedicated to the Los Angeles artist, who committed suicide
in February, the show was one of the highlights of a busy art
weekend in the Hamptons.

It also included Watermill Center’s annual benefit, an art
fair, gallery exhibitions and an exclusive tour of a private art
collection.

“I remember a time when the entire summer was really
dead,” said Manuela Paz, director of VIP relations at the Armory
Show, New York’s largest art fair. “Then it was only August.
Now that window of downtime is closing.”

Sag Harbor

Paz organized a reception for the fair’s clients at the
chic home of screenwriter Chiswell (“Chum”) Langhorne in Sag
Harbor on Sunday.

Guests sipped kir royales and munched cupcakes as they
strolled around the pristine, light-filled house designed by
architect Annabelle Selldorf.

Langhorne, who has been collecting for a decade, mixes
large-scale works (by such hot contemporary artists as Barnaby
Furnas and Dan Colen), with preserved animals, wooden found
objects and custom-designed furniture.

In the dining room, a large black-and-white drawing of a
shark by Robert Longo hung over a massive wooden table, empty
but for a ceramic figure of a polar bear in the center.

On the second floor, several items vied for attention: a
large abstract photograph by Thomas Ruff; a magnificent white
peacock; a steel sculpture by Frank Stella.

Blue Lagoon

Nearby, art dealer Jose Martos -- barefoot, his shirt
untucked -- welcomed visitors to his Bridgehampton house. For
the third summer in a row its rooms, backyard, swimming pool and
even the attic are doubling as exhibition spaces. This year’s
event, “Creature From the Blue Lagoon,” was curated by Bob
Nickas and includes more than 100 works by 40 artists.

When I visited, Martos’s 2-year-old son’s bedroom was the
only space off limits in the two-story house.

“The baby is sleeping upstairs,” said Martos, who also
operates a gallery in Chelsea.

Art displayed in a home -- as opposed to a white cube of a
gallery -- can take on a personal dimension. There were plenty
of surprises and clever pairings of art and environment.

A blue boat with a sail matching the surrounding foliage by
Aaron Suggs floated in the middle of a swimming pool.

Lisa Beck’s strings of Lucite balls were hung from a wooden
beam on the porch, inverting the images of the house, the lawn,
the trees.

Inside the house, smaller works were parked among books,
toys and furniture. In the kitchen, B. Wurtz had turned simple
aluminum containers into sculpture by painting their backs with
bright geometric compositions.

Prices range from $600 to $150,000. The show runs through
Sept. 3 at 112 Sagaponack Rd. Information: +1-631-613-6698;
http://www.martosgallery.com.

Art Southampton

More art was up for grabs at Art Southampton, a new
offshoot of Art Miami. It attracted Ross, Sheikha Paula Al Sabah
and art patron Beth Rudin DeWoody.

“I haven’t seen Stevie Cohen, but I’ve seen a dozen hedge
fund guys I know,” said New York dealer Asher Edelman, who was
manning the booth of his Manhattan-based Edelman Arts gallery.

A thunderstorm dampened the fair’s VIP opening on Thursday
and the following day was quiet, dealers said. It might have
also been a sign of fatigue: Art Southampton was the third fair
in as many weeks. By Saturday, things picked up.

‘Things Sell’

“Nothing sells like hotcakes, but things sell,” said
Edelman, who placed red dots next to a $750 robot sculpture by
Cathy McClure and a $1,250 painting by Scott Covert, depicting
the text on the gravestones of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel
Basquiat. A large abstract painting by Doug Argue priced at
$85,000, sold by the end of the fair.

A hyperrealist silicone sculpture of a gray-haired man in a
pinstripe suit guarded the entrance to Miami-based Unix gallery.
The man wore finger puppets of Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and
Takashi Murakami on his right hand.

“It’s Larry Gagosian,” said co-owner Alex Cesaria. The
piece, “Master of Puppets,” is by Eugenio Merino.

This came as a surprise, as the statue’s face bore little
resemblance to the mega-dealer. The gallery was asking $41,000
for the piece. There were no immediate takers.

(Katya Kazakina is a critic for Muse, the arts and leisure
section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

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